Had a shoot with my wife tonight

So I have a friend who does make up and she needed some shots for her portfolio. Since I always need shots for my project 365, we got together tonight to get some done of my wife. I've only really worked on this one but I'll add more to the thread when I have them done. I'm pretty pleased with them overall but any tips would be appreciated, since portraits are an area of photography that feel I need to work on. Shot using a reflector and one off camera flash, fired through a (home made) softbox.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.elfyphotogr​aphy.com …07735/e15f4c43d​#h15f4c43d

So I finally got round to processing the rest of the shoot. Here's another few shots. All C&C welcome. The full gallery is here. Thanks guys.

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i dont like the eyebrows. you can clearly see where the hair stops but the makeup keeps going.

OneEyedJack wrote in post #10306449
i dont like the eyebrows. you can clearly see where the hair stops but the makeup keeps going.

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, the make up wasn't my department!

How about the photos themselves? Anything I should have done differently?

Haha! Over eight hundred views and only one comment eh? Guess I need to work on it some more.

On 5, 6 & 7 maybe lower your light a bit so you get more light in her eyes. Looks like these were shot with a wide angle lens(?), this tends to exagerate facial features, try shooting with a longer focal length. Not bad overall though, looks like you had fun!

elfy wrote in post #10312360
Haha! Over eight hundred views and only one comment eh? Guess I need to work on it some more.

just realize not everyone feels qualified to comment, also.

As for the lighting, most of it is pretty harsh, and can cause some harsh shadows also. What style were you trying for; it looks more like the 50s Hollywood lighting style to me.

Agreed, the lighting is a little harsh, How big is your homemade softbox? and how far away was it from your wife during the shoot, Bigger and Closer is better, try double diffusing it with like a bedsheet or something, and probably shoot a stop higher to even her out some more... otherwise there are a few shots in there that Im liking, and would be amazing with some further development.

a521 wrote in post #10312949
On 5, 6 & 7 maybe lower your light a bit so you get more light in her eyes. Looks like these were shot with a wide angle lens(?), this tends to exagerate facial features, try shooting with a longer focal length. Not bad overall though, looks like you had fun!

Yeah, these were shot with the kit lens as it is the longest I have at the moment. I tend to shoot a lot of landscapes and so the focal range I have is more geared towards the wider end of the spectrum. Due to space limitations (these were shot in my living room) for the wider shots I had to go out to somewhere around the 30mm mark. And yes, we did have fun. It's my first time doing a "real" shoot like this so I'm sill a bit unsure about directing and posing a model.

hawk911 wrote in post #10313283
just realize not everyone feels qualified to comment, also.

As for the lighting, most of it is pretty harsh, and can cause some harsh shadows also. What style were you trying for; it looks more like the 50s Hollywood lighting style to me.

I must admit, I am probably guilty of that myself (looking and not commenting) but I just figured out of eight hundred people, someone must have something to say. Haha!

Funnily enough, that fifties kind of look is kind of what we had in mind when we set up the shoot so I'm glad that seems to have come across. Looking at them though, I can see what you mean. The lighting does seem a bit harsh. Thanks for looking.

BEyslerPhotography wrote in post #10313298
Agreed, the lighting is a little harsh, How big is your homemade softbox? and how far away was it from your wife during the shoot, Bigger and Closer is better, try double diffusing it with like a bedsheet or something, and probably shoot a stop higher to even her out some more... otherwise there are a few shots in there that Im liking, and would be amazing with some further development.

The softbox is pretty small, about 30cm x 40cm. It was positioned pretty close, about 2-3 feet if I remember correctly. I used some muslin type material I had lying around but I may try doubling it up because I still have lots of it left. Thanks for the tips, we're supposed to be having another go soon so I'll try to put some of this into practice.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to give me some feedback, it's really appreciated and it's why I love this forum.